Cob Jockey

I'm trying to decide where to even start with the tale of this weekend...

Maybe here.  It's really hard to pack for a formal dinner, a CrossFit workout, and riding when you're flying!

My husband's new company has a Christmas party in Austin, Texas every year, and it's a huge thing.  They fly all the spouses and employees down for the weekend, have a company meeting (They have no home office, so it's the only time the employees are together) and throw a massive party - complete with a cocktail hour, 4 course meal, an after party, and an after-after party, all on their dime.  It's sort of a thank you to the spouses for dealing with their significant others being gone all the time, and a good time to meet everyone.

I look tired because this was taken at 3:00am!

Nick's meeting lasted all day Saturday, so I met up with JenJ and Lauren, and I am so glad I did!  We started with delicious brunch and great conversation - it felt like we could have talked forever despite that being the first time we met.

This breakfast panino at Kerbey Lane Cafe was GLUTEN FREE!  Austin is awesome for people with food allergies.

Then we headed over to the Dover store, where I walked around touching things, even though I couldn't buy anything since I was flying.  For someone with no local tack store, being able to touch things is inordinately exciting.

The most surreal part of the day was riding Paddy and Brego!  Daun's blog is one of the first, if not the actual first, horse blog I ever read, and getting to meet and ride Brego was so, so surreal.  I mean, Brego:

My all-time favorite picture of Brego.

The first thing I said when I saw him standing in the pasture was "Oh my gosh Brego's huge!" because he's so physically imposing in real life, it caught me off-guard.  I thought Jen was joking when she said none of the halters at Dover fit him, but his head is seriously half as long as I am tall.



There are almost no words for how big and adorable those ears are in real life!


He and I are, uh, definitely not a good physical match, as evidenced by this photo where my legs are actually sticking straight out from my pelvis:


But he was so much fun, and I am still amazed that I got to ride him.

I also rode PADDY!


I have to say, I ride a cute horse.  One that gets mistaken for a Haflinger constantly.  But Paddy brings cute to a whole other level.  Everything he does is cute.  There's no other way to describe it.  He's horse-sized, but every move he makes is just completely adorable, and I think he knows it.

Much more appropriately sized!

At the end I tried to take a cute picture with Paddy:

And got photobombed by Brego, who couldn't be left out:

Two very, very good horses!

Sadly, I had to get back to the hotel all too soon, so the visit didn't feel long enough.  I am so thrilled to have met Jen and Lauren, as well as Paddy and Brego, and I'm excited to see them again next month for Blogger Weekend.